erdbpro

ERD Builder Pro CLI — one command to start your database design workspace.

npx erdbpro

No config. No setup. No Docker required. Just Node.js 18+.

Quick Start

# Install globally
npm install -g erdbpro

# Start (opens browser at localhost:3101)
erdbpro

The CLI uses local auto-login and does not show a login form. It creates/uses the local administrator automatically.

Data stored in ~/.erdbpro/ (SQLite). Zero config, always ready.

Interactive Menu

After starting, you'll see an interactive menu you can navigate with arrow keys:

========================================
  ERD Builder Pro (v2.5.2)
  🚀 Server: http://localhost:3101
========================================

 ▶ Web UI (Open in Browser)
   Hide to Background
   Exit

  ↑↓ move  Enter select  q quit

• ↑↓ — move the ▶ selector up or down
• Enter — execute the selected action
• After an action (e.g. opening the browser), press Enter to return to the menu
• q or Ctrl+C — exit immediately

Menu Options

| Option | What it does | |--------|--------------| | Web UI | Opens the app in your default browser at http://localhost:3101 | | Hide to Background | Detaches the server to run silently. Stop with erdbpro stop. | | Exit | Stops the server and exits the CLI |

You can also bypass the menu entirely:

erdbpro start --background   # Start silently, no menu
erdbpro start --open         # Open browser immediately, no menu

Commands

erdbpro                          # Start server + interactive menu
erdbpro start                    # Same as above
erdbpro start --background       # Run in background (detached)
erdbpro start --open             # Skip menu, open browser immediately
erdbpro start --port 4000        # Custom port
erdbpro start --force            # Restart if already running
erdbpro stop                     # Stop background server
erdbpro status                   # Check if server is running
erdbpro mcp                      # MCP using CLI data
erdbpro mcp --desktop            # MCP using Desktop app data
erdbpro schema check --repo .    # Validate repository schema for local/CI use
erdbpro schema diff --repo . --base main --head WORKTREE # Compare Git refs

erdbpro mcp reads ~/.erdbpro/data.db. The --desktop flag runs the installed Desktop MCP backend bundle directly against the Desktop database; it does not launch the Desktop GUI. In development, run it from the repository root to use the Desktop dev database.

Schema checks in CI

The checker supports Laravel migrations, DBML, and SQL schema/migration sources. It never checks out a branch or modifies the repository.

erdbpro schema check --repo . --ref WORKTREE
erdbpro schema check --repo . --source laravel:database/migrations --json
erdbpro schema check --repo . --fail-on-warnings
erdbpro schema diff --repo . --base main --head WORKTREE --source laravel:database/migrations
erdbpro schema diff --repo . --base main --source laravel:database/migrations --fail-on-destructive

GitHub Actions example:

- uses: actions/setup-node@v7
  with:
    node-version: "22"
- run: npx --yes erdbpro@latest schema diff --repo . --base "$BASE_SHA" --head "$HEAD_SHA" --source laravel:database/migrations --fail-on-destructive

schema diff reports added, modified, and deleted tables, columns, and relationships. Its --markdown output can be appended to GitHub's step summary. Exit code 0 means valid, 1 means the source could not be read or parsed, and 2 means warnings or destructive changes were configured to fail CI.

Database

SQLite only. Database created automatically in ~/.erdbpro/data.db. No configuration needed.

Need PostgreSQL? Use the Docker image instead:

docker run -p 3101:3101 -e DATABASE_URL=postgresql://... bekenweb/erd-builder-pro

The CLI distribution keeps things simple — SQLite is fast, portable, and requires zero setup. Docker and desktop (Tauri) builds support PostgreSQL for production use.

Port

Default: 3101 (avoids conflicts with dev server on 3098 and desktop app on 3099).

Background Mode

erdbpro start --background
erdbpro status              # → ✅ Server running (PID: 12345)
erdbpro stop                # → 🛑 Server stopped

PID file stored at ~/.erdbpro/server.pid. Auto-cleaned on stop or stale detection.

Update

When a newer npm version is available, erdbpro shows Update as the first interactive-menu option. Selecting it stops the local server and prints the install command; it never updates automatically.

npm install -g erdbpro@latest --prefer-online
erdbpro start --force       # Stop old + start new

Amber dot badge appears on the nav-user avatar in the web app when a newer version is available.

On the next start after an update, the CLI automatically applies additive system-database migrations to ~/.erdbpro/data.db before the API becomes ready. Existing diagrams, notes, connections, and query drafts are preserved.

Features

All features identical to the desktop app:

• ERD Diagrams — design database schemas with React Flow
• DB Client — connect to PostgreSQL, MySQL, or SQLite, browse/edit records, inspect structure, and run SQL queries
• Flowcharts — create flowcharts with multiple node shapes
• Notes — rich text editing with Tiptap
• Drawings — whiteboard with Excalidraw
• AI Assistant — chat with AI for SQL generation, flowchart creation, and more

Requirements

• Node.js 18+ (22 LTS recommended)
• macOS, Linux, or Windows

Files

~/.erdbpro/
  ├── data.db          # SQLite database
  ├── server.pid       # Background process PID
  └── logs/            # Server logs

Uninstall

npm uninstall -g erdbpro
rm -rf ~/.erdbpro

Built with React, Vite, Express, Prisma, and Commander.js.
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